A Time for Reflection

As I sit on Facebook scrolling through the endless clusters of throwback Thursday photos, I began to daydream about my life four yours ago around this time. I was a senior in high school and still not entirely sure whether I wanted to cross country ski or run in college, much less where I wanted to go. I was a decent skier in high school. I was the first guy from Eden Prairie to win a race at Mesabi (5k skate my senior year). I also won a handful of conference races and regionals on my birthday my senior year. At state I finished 5th, at the time one of the biggest disappointments of my life, however, I had to think long and hard remembering what place I had actually finished so it can’t possibly have scarred me for too long. The bottom line was this, I felt like a very mediocre skier. When I first met Sten Fjeldheim on my first and only college visit to NMU, saying I was intimidated was an understatement. He showed me the NMU facilities and training sites, let be bask in the glory that is the many (at least 75+) All American plaques, and questioned me about my past. I remember when he asked about my Junior Nationals experience I had to embarrassingly tell him I had only made one team and finished 15th, which to my surprise he seemed pleased. As I was getting ready to leave he asked my two mile time (I believe 9:28 at the time) and immediately lit up when he realized I had endurance. Before I left, he offered me a scholarship to Northern Michigan, which I took as a huge vote of confidence in my abilities. I chose to attend Northern the very next fall.

Now would probably be a good time to acknowledge a very popular theme right now, taking years off. When I chose to attend Northern Michigan it never occurred to me to even consider taking a year off and honestly I did not feel I was fast enough to justify it. Coming from the Midwest, it seems the hype first appeared around the time Jessie Diggins “made it big” and has probably continued with the success and naming to the US Ski Team by my friend and training partner, Ben Saxton. I suppose it is a noble cause to take a year to dedicate your life to solely skiing and if you can find a program like CXC to pay for it, why go to school anyways. But over the years I have watched people take years off, then go to college and for the most part either burn out or ski very mediocre collegiate careers. Of course some go on to have great careers and even skied professionally and saying years off are bad would not be correct, but that is just one observation I have had.

With this year marking my final year in college and, thus, my final year of schooling, I have come to appreciate things in a new manner. Right now, my plan is to ski professionally next year and hopefully make a run at the 2018 Olympic Games. Certain amenities I will miss in college (besides my scholarship of course) include the free van rides and transportation, free hotels, free food at races, the rollerski treadmill at NMU, Sten (best collegiate coach in America, fact), and of course waxing service at all races. Notice the key word for much of that was free. Cross country skiing is an expensive venture, especially in America where it is simply not that well known or cared about. Professional teams are definitely doing better and better jobs at taking care of their athletes with wax support, transportation, and lodging, but you still see athletes almost constantly fundraising and unless you are Kikkan Randall, you are probably looking to make it out of a year even as opposed to ahead financially. That being said I am grateful from my four years at NMU where expenses stayed low while my improvement rate was high.

A perfect example of how I have changed as a skier at NMU would be to look at NCAAs last year. As a freshman, I came in a totally unsure of how I would adapt to training for skiing year round. NCAAs was not even on my mind and when I saw at the end of the year I had actually qualified in the region (I was the fourth guy for NMU so technically I did not make it), I was ecstatic for the future. I came back my sophomore year and qualified and went on to finish 22nd and 10th. The 10th place in the skate mass start earned me All American and I couldn't believe it. From there, my expectations only grew and last year I was the top American in the classic race (6th) and I finished 14th in the skate race. I knew I had changed because I viewed that 14th as a failure of a race and it dawned on me that my expectations have transformed right along with me during my career. With the many foreigners that ski in college, I really feel that NCAAs and the Supertours and Nationals for that matter have become more competitive which can only be positive for American Skiing. I also made Junior Worlds that year which opened my eyes to racing in Europe. That experience was a life changed and again motivated me to new levels and also confirmed the statement I have heard from Sten since day one, “the Norwegians put their pants on the same way we do, one leg at a time.” It was extremely beneficial to see that which hard work and training, I too could possibly ski like some of the top guys there.

So, my senior year is obviously filled with many goals, I want to race at U23s in Kazakhstan and crush NCAAS, to name a few. However, as it is the calm before the storm that is the ski season, I am grateful for my time at Northern Michigan University. Time has flown by and before I know it, I will be walking on graduation day. But, I will be a proud holder of a degree as I continue my ski career next year and I will hold on to the many relationships I have made in college. Many of these relationships being foreigners who would now graciously allow me to stay with them should I chose to visit Europe. People who try to belittle college by saying that it is a party scene and they could never ski well there simply lack the discipline to know where the line is between having fun and training hard. I guess I wrote this reflection in the hopes that is may help some high school senior figure there next step as I feel it would have helped me, but if nothing else it was a cathartic exercise for myself. Each person is unique and while college doesn’t need to be the only option, it certainly shouldn't be viewed as inferior to taking a year off. I have a pretty good reputation at being a very bad photographer, so on throwback Thursday when pictures mean a thousand words, I chose to write a thousand words instead.

Enjoy the fall Midwest, winter is fast approaching!

About the author... NCAA All American Kyle Bratrud is in his senior season as an NMU Wildcat under Sten Fjeldheim. Spurred on by his 2013 World Junior participation and top American finish at the 2014 NCAA Championships, he is pursuing his dreams of making it on to the 2018 US Olympic Squad Team. As a college athlete, Kyle will be sharing his thoughts, training, and racing experiences as he travels and competes around the college circuit and hopefully beyond.